The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer or LGBTQ community as been widely active since 1996, and for the most part they have been a community that focuses on obtaining the equality of their members. They are groups of individuals that come together with the main focus of having a community where they can all lean on one another for support. But is that community just as biased against their own members as they claim the outside world is to them?
According to the Human Rights Commission the "B" in the LGBTQ is discriminated against by their own alliance.
"Bisexuals experience high rates of being ignored, discriminated against, demonized, or rendered invisible by both the heterosexual world and the lesbian and gay communities. Often, the entire sexual orientation is branded as invalid, immoral, or irrelevant. Despite years of activism and the largest population within the LGBT community, the needs of bisexuals still go unaddressed and their very existence is still called into question. This erasure has serious consequences on bisexuals’ health, economic well-being, and funding for bi organizations and programs. [...] While bisexuality has often been considered merely a “phase” en route to a stable gay or lesbian orientation, it is also a stable sexual orientation in itself."
So how is it that a community that stresses that they are searching for equality, for the need to be just like everyone else can look at members of their own society with such disdain and discomfort? Should it matter that bisexuals do not know what gender they love at any given moment?
According to Romi Klinger who is a cast member on the reality television show "The Real L Word" which airs on Showtime, she saw the discrimination in her group of friends after beginning a relationship with a man.
It would seem that the issues for some lesbians and gays is that bisexuals get to enjoy not only both genders but they also walk that fine line of being accepted as normal when they enjoy in relationships with the opposite sex. While also being a part of the movement which the LGBTQ is so proud of establishing. In my research it has also been said that bisexuals themselves are to blame for the way they are seen, because so many bisexuals stay in the closet and do not come out as bisexuals they themselves cause the hostility that they receive from the LGBTQ.
"More out bisexuals would mean less of that bisexual invisibility that bisexuals are always complaining about. If more bisexuals were out, more straight people would know they actually know and love sexual minorities, which would lead to less anti-LGBT bigotry generally, which would be better for everyone. But people get to make their own choices, and lots of bisexuals choose not to be out. While I'm willing to recognize that the reluctance of many bisexuals to be out may be a reaction to the hostility they face from non-bisexuals, gay and straight, bisexuals need to recognize that their being closeted is a huge contributing factor to the hostility they face."
Funny how this is said about bisexuals but when gay and lesbians are in the closet they are coddled and basically nurtured out of the closet because forcing the issues for them could be detrimental to their future.
That is not to say that all of the LGBTQ community are this way, just like not all of the straight community look at gays and lesbians in a negative manner. However I do think that the lesbian and gay community should be held to a higher level of acceptance when they are dealing with individuals that are supposed to be members of their own community, because if not they are just like the individuals which they call ignorant and closed minded.
References:
1. Ethington, E. (March 15, 2011). New report highlights discrimination against bisexuals by both gays and straights. LGBTQNATION. March 17, 2013. http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2011/03/new-report-highlights-discrimination-against-bisexuals-by-both-gays-and-straights/.
2. Walkley, A.J, Kinsey Michelle, Lauren. (December 28, 2012). Bi the Bi: Are Closeted Bisexuals the Reason for Bi Invisibility?. Huffington Post Gay Voices. March 17, 2013. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/aj-walkley/bi-the-bi-are-closeted-bisexuals-the-reason-for-bi-invisibility_b_2365117.html?utm_hp_ref=bisexual
I think that I addressed in the last blog posting that unfortunately in today's society you must fit ONE box and if you don't then you are against the grain. This is the gray area that bisexuals fall under because they "play both teams" so they don't fully "feel" the discrimination that a homosexual experiences.
ReplyDeleteGreat Video. Nicely said by her. She was raised to love a person and from what I gather, it was the gay community who actually discriminated against her. Wow. I like the fact that her mother showed not to choose a women or a man. To love the person who ever she falls in love with whether is a women or a man. Well said.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching the video of Romi Klinger taliking about how being bisexualmakes a person targeted by the lesbian community, in her case, as a traiter and greedy then by the straight community as slutty I thought how hypocritical of the gay and lesbian community. The gay and lesbian community were being prejudice against her for her sexual preferences. This is the same thing that some straight people do to the gay and lesbian community. Don't they see they are just like those straight people with closed minds?
ReplyDeleteSo true that bi people are seen as on the fence or just ignored as invalid or seen as invisible. This blog is a great way to explain and express so many of the issues faced. Great job so far.
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